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(Photo Courtesy of UMass Athletics)
After having the first four games of their season postponed, the UMass Minutemen took the field for the first time in 369 days on Sunday afternoon against the Fairfield Stags, winning 13-9 in a CAA contest.
Chris Connolly paced the Minutemen offense with a hat trick while Gabriel Procyk and Billy Philpott each had two goals and one assist for three points. Freshman Dillon Arrant had two goals in his college debut.
Matt Knote seemingly picked up right where he left off during his freshman campaign a season ago, making 10 saves with a 52% save percentage in cage. However, the Minutemen defense in front of him also deserves a ton of credit. UMass caused 11 turnovers in the game, which included eight in the second half alone. Fairfield ended the game with a total of 20 turnovers.
Sunday March 14th, 2021 8:15am
(Photo Courtesy of UMass Athletics)
UMass opens its season Sunday against Fairfield. The Minutemen are the last men s DI team to get started (outside of the Ivy League) due to several delays to the start of their season due to COVID-19 protocols. Check out the full calendar of games.
It’s tough to think of a program that has as much of a clear-cut identity as UMass.
It was drilled into Jeff Trainor by coach Greg Cannella on his recruiting visit.
“He kept it as real as he could. He told me and my family, ‘This is a hard-working school. This is a blue-collar school,’” Trainor said in an interview in January, before the team went through sporadic stops and starts due to COVID-19 protocols. “Growing up in Billerica, it was the same message we preached. I knew it was going to be the best place for me.”